Survey: These are the top office stress factors

Recent research ahead of National Stress Awareness Day on November 1, from compensation, culture, and career monitoring site Comparably, shows that the top cause of stress cited by 42% of employees is “unclear goals.”

Looks like some workers really feel like they could use more direction – even more so than these other factors: “commute” and “bad manager” followed (both at 16%, respectively), then “difficult coworker” (14%), and “too long hours” (12%).

The report also pointed out something dire: “[R]ates of burnout are nearly the same for employees of nearly every age, with 48%-50% of employees saying they feel burnt out at any given age.”

The research is based on more than 88,000 responses from employees at tech companies.

Here just some of the findings that stood out.

Here’s who expected to work during their time off

Comparably found that more executive employees than any other type say their managers expect them to be in office mode during their vacation time.

However, the report also pointed out that “about 21% of workers in tech say they now have unlimited paid vacation and sick days. That’s significantly higher than workers outside of tech, 9% of whom say they have unlimited paid time off.

For employees, these benefits are a top priority

Workers really value their time off.

Comparably found that when respondents were asked to pick what benefits they valued the most after health care, “vacation policy” took the cake at 31%.

“Flex Time” was not far behind, with 30% choosing this option, followed by “401k contribution” (29%), “office meals” (7%), and “childcare” (3%).

Three ways to handle stress work throws at you

Here are a few steps you can take…

Don’t get involved in all that office drama

Remove yourself from the situation before you snap in 3…2…1.

This gives you a mental escape route before doing something rash. In a world of meetings, meetings, and more meetings — plus toxic colleagues — sometimes you need to slow things down and take a breather.

Take a real vacation — without email

You might need to check email a few times on vacation, but if you want to remember your trip, back away from your inbox!